"Shovel Knight" Review

     

     Shovel Knight, both developed and published by developer Yacht Club Games, is an adorable homage to old school gaming and it shows with every minute of gameplay. You play as the aforementioned Shovel Knight in this 8-bit, side-scrolling platformer. You must work your way through a large array of bosses in order to reach and defeat The Enchantress and save your lost love, Shield Knight, in an inspiring, hilarious and heroic tale. I'm only twenty years old and haven't exactly played a lot of older games, but when I played Shovel Knight, it was like I traveled back in time to the era of old-school gaming. Get your shovels ready knights, because we're going on an adventure!
     Split into four sections with multiple levels, including optional ones, there's quite a bit of stuff for you to do in Shovel Knight. You have a main hub called the "Village" where you can interact with townsfolk and purchase upgrades for your health and magic. Certain upgrades such as additional moves are available, but unfortunately, there aren't enough of them and they feel kind of useless. You can also go to an armor outpost and buy different kinds of armor, offering you different abilities, but in the end, these felt merely cosmetic. Throughout each level, you'll be collecting lots of treasure. Each time you die, you lose a hefty amount of this treasure, but it can be retrieved upon respawning. Relics can also be found, giving you additional abilities at the cost of magic each time you use them. There are also checkpoints in each level that can be destroyed for treasure at the expense of no longer having a checkpoint.

     Shovel Knight's level design is its most brilliant aspect. Cleverly designed with contemplative navigation, multiple secret paths, and ingenious boss fights, you'll be smiling (and crying) the whole way through, but I'll get to that. Navigating the levels here will require quick-thinking as one hit could bounce you back and have you falling to your death. Let me tell you a short story real quick. A specific segment of the game has a blue treasure chest. I'd advise you to not open it, but you kind of have to in order to progress. You knock it open with your shovel and begin to rummage through it, but suddenly, a giant Angler fish with the treasure chest attached to it arises; its a trap! You begin to run for your life, carefully timing your jumps to reach each platform to get the hell out of there. As for the multiple secret paths, there are walls that can be destroyed with your shovel revealing treasure. There are also shortcuts around enemies sometimes.

     Combat in Shovel Knight will appear to be simple, but it's more challenging than you think as there are many different types of enemies, each with their own tactic. You'd think that a shovel wouldn't exactly be a very powerful weapon, but in this universe, you're wrong. Your attack is simply mapped to one button, but a downward stab can be performed by jumping and holding "down" as well. Boss battles are innovative with different phases and designs. You'll have to learn and adapt to these phases in order to win. I remember dying over twenty times during the Propeller Knight boss because of his floating ship blowing the ground out from under me with cannon balls. I was ready to cry. By the end of the game, I looked at my stats and found out that I had died over seventy times during the Propeller Knight level. That damn flying bastard. Oh, and if you're playing on the PlayStation version, keep an eye out for a certain pale-skinned boss. ;)

     The art design here in Shovel Knight is magnificent. Every pixelated environment will catch your eye with its attention to detail. I loved watching Shovel Knight run. Seeing his legs move; it was like I was playing Mario. From the dark, ominous areas to the bright, luscious ones, my eyes always widened with happiness as I continued to play. Even the way the map is designed is straight out of the old-school gaming era. The game's soundtrack will have your ears listening intently as you wait for the infectious music to change with each level. You do have the option to start a new-game plus upon completion, but there just wasn't enough here to warrant me starting the story all over again. Yacht Club games is certainly an ambitious developer and it shows with the amount of love put into Shovel Knight. I can't wait to see what they have planned next!
PROS:
- Inspiring, heroic tale
- Good amount of content
- Cleverly designed levels
- Many different types of enemies
- Creative boss battles
- Magnificent art design
- Infectious soundtrack
CONS:
- Certain upgrades feel useless
- Not enough here to warrant starting a New Game Plus
Final Score: 8.5/10